Death Toll Rises in Election Violence in Kenya

NPR.org, January 1, 2008 · Up to 50 people died Tuesday when a mob torched a Kenyan church in the fourth day of ethnic violence that erupted after the disputed presidential election.

President Mwai Kibaki was sworn in Sunday after a vote that opponents say was rigged. On Tuesday he called for a meeting of political parties and made an appeal for an end to the riots.

At least 270 people have died in what had been east Africa's most stable and prosperous democracy.

Kibaki's opponent, Raila Odinga, refused to meet with his rival.

"If he announces that he was not elected, then I will talk to him," Odinga said. He accused the government of stoking the chaos, saying Kibaki's administration is "guilty of genocide."

Ethnic Violence

The violence - which has erupted from the shantytowns of Nairobi to resort towns on the sweltering coast - has exposed tribal resentments that have long festered in Kenya. Kibaki's Kikuyu people, Kenya's largest ethnic group, are accused of turning their dominance of politics and business to the detriment of others.

Odinga is from the Luo tribe, a smaller but still major tribe. In the slums, which are often divided along tribal lines, rival groups have been going at each other with machetes and sticks as police fire tear gas and live rounds to keep them from pouring out into the city center.

The church fire in Eldoret, some 185 miles from the capital, killed at least 50 people, said a Red Cross volunteer who counted the bodies and helped the wounded. But she asked that her name - which would identify her tribe - not be published, saying gangs were even checking on the tribal affiliations of aid workers.

Anne Njoki, a 28-year-old Kikuyu, said she fled her home in the slums after she saw Kikuyus being attacked and their homes looted. She was camped out near a military base with her sister, 3-year-old nephew and 7-year-old niece.

"They have taken our beds, blankets, even spoons," she said of the looters. The children had not eaten for days.

The European Union and the United States have refused to congratulate Kibaki, and the EU and four top Kenyan elections officials have called for an independent inquiry.

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Kibaki and Odinga to hold talks.

"The violence must be brought to an end," he said Tuesday in London.

Also Tuesday, Odinga insisted he would go on with plans for a march of a million people in the capital Thursday against Kibaki, who had been trailing Odinga in early election results and opinion polls before pulling ahead.

The government banned the demonstration, but Odinga said: "It doesn't matter what they say."

The widespread violence and gathering international pressure could pressure Kibaki to compromise. Riots also have been raging in opposition strongholds in western Kenya, the tourism-dependent coast and the Rift Valley.

In Nairobi's Mathare slum, Odinga supporters torched a minibus and attacked Kikuyu travelers, witnesses said Tuesday.

Kikuyus Targeted

"The car had 14 people in it, but they only slashed Kikuyus," said Boniface Mwangi. Five were attacked by the machete-wielding gang, others robbed, he said.

In Nairobi's slums - home to a third of the city's population - parents searched for food with many shops closed because of looting.

Winnie Nduku, 34, said she and her three young children hadn't eaten in three days and the family had no money because her husband, a minibus driver, had been unable to get to work.

"My eldest daughter keeps asking what am I going to do and the small one is crying from hunger," she said.

Kibaki 76, won by a landslide in 2002, ending 24 years in power by Daniel arap Moi. He is praised for turning the country into an east African economic powerhouse with an average growth rate of 5 percent, but his anti-graft campaign has been seen as a failure, and the country still struggles with tribalism and poverty.

Odinga, 62, cast himself as a champion of the poor. His main constituency is the Kibera slum, where some 700,000 people live in poverty, but he has been accused of failing to do enough to help them in 15 years as a member of parliament.

Source Link (to a page with even more links)

BBC - Kenya Diplomatic Push for Peace

There are also reports of extreme fuel shortages in neighboring Uganda -- the price of petrol is reportedly over 5USD per liter in some parts of Uganda. Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of the Congo are also expected to suffer from fuel shortages. Apparently a lot of the power in Uganda specifically is derived from diesel, so as supplies run short, there might be even more instability.

i get distracted from your political posts by hbc's cleavage in your avatar

How can you be distracted by cleavage when she's wearing such a classy hat?

man, that's some nasty violence going on down there.

i just can't believe that the president and the odinga guy don't meet, for the sake of people's lives and all... It is definitely more important than digging in their heels attempting to grab the most power for themselves. there's a significant opposition in the parliament, i heard on BBC, so it's not as though the opposition voters have no voice at all. but the election was probably rigged. i mean, what election isn't rigged anymore?

kenya was meant to be africa's success story

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they made soup out of my research turtles.

Oxfam must be freaking about where they'll get their artifacts from now.

god. it's just horrible.
and what annoys me most is how little coverage this is getting over here.
And I've heard people go "oh. that must be bad for the tourists...They shouldn't go there any more...it's way too dangerous!"
what about all the people in the slums who have been living in poverty their whole lives and are now being brutally murdered....yeah. poor western tourists. ugh. it disgusts me.

and Kenya is one of the better off countries. The poverty situation is so much worse in Ethiopia or Burkina Faso and many other places.
and what annoys me is how people need a tv news report to remind them of the situation in other continents/countries.... they're all so unaware and then the next day they're all "omg. did you see etc...on the tv. wow. that's so sad. I had no idea". How can you not freaking now?

in the uk it's getting good coverage. lead or second lead on most news programmes for a few days

kenya isn't only prosperous for africa, it's pretty open and democratic too. freedoms have increased since independence. remarkable considering how bloody and controversial the battle for independence was

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they made soup out of my research turtles.

Kibaki and Odinga having a little meeting would probably not do a whole lot at this point in time. Or at least I don't think so. At the point in time when people are rioting and killing each other, two leaders meeting to shake hands is symbolic and nothing more.

Odinga's party was concerned about voter fraud and a rigged election before people even went to the polls. Or so the BBC podcast indicated. The elections were supposed to be really important and both Kibaki and Odinga needed lots of support from members of other ethnic groups (there are over 40 in Kenya).

I think a lot of people kind of expected an Odinga win.

And I agree with the "fuck the tourists" sentiment. But I think I read an article on BBC that said the tourist areas were mostly unaffected by all this messy violence and that the industry wasn't suffering yet. If people from the US had trips planned, they'll probably go ahead with them because they may not even know this is happening!

didn't realise obama's grandmother, sarah onyango obama, still lives in a remote kenyan village



The Obama Phenomenon, As Explained by His Grandma - Yahoo! News

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they made soup out of my research turtles.

two men meeting are going to reverse tribal bitterness that's been occuring and raging for hundreds of years?
i don't care who it is, even jesus, will never get rid of hatred between tribes ANYWHERE in Africa.

i've seen some pretty crazy shit.

when are these rabid jungle bunnies going to get it together?